Candida glabrata survives and replicates in human osteoblasts

Candida glabrata is an opportunistic pathogen that is considered the second most common cause of candidiasis after Candida albicans Many characteristics of its mechanisms of pathogenicity remain unknown. Recent studies have focused on determining the events that underlie interactions between C. glabrata and immune cells, but the relationship between this yeast and osteoblasts has not been studied in detail. The aim of this study was to determine the mechanisms of interaction between human osteoblasts and C. glabrata, and to identify the roles played by some of the molecules that are produced by these cells in response to infection. We show that C. glabrata adheres to and is internalized by human osteoblasts. Adhesion is independent of opsonization, and internalization depends on the rearrangement of the actin cytoskeleton. We show that C. glabrata survives and replicates in osteoblasts and that this intracellular behavior is related to the level of production of nitric oxide and reactive oxygen species. Opsonized C. glabrata stimulates the production of IL-6, IL-8 and MCP-1 cytokines. Adhesion and internalization of the pathogen and the innate immune response of osteoblasts require viable C. glabrata These results suggest that C. glabrata modulates immunological mechanisms in osteoblasts to survive inside the cell.